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February 28, 2006
it's coming so soon. i know you are having trouble finding a gift. it is hard to capture an elephant, and mayonnaise might spoil en route.
i made it easy. you can get me a book.
that is how much i think about you.
Posted by zefrank at 6:37 AM | Comments (7)
::
make miniature TV dinners for video iPod users.
edited to add:
as a challenge...i ask you to send me (ze@zefrank.com) photoshop protoypes of possible meals...remember - think small.
first entry (thanks averyl)
second entry (thanks tommy)
all entries can be seen at : minidinners
gimme some more entries!
Posted by zefrank at 5:19 AM | Comments (3)
February 27, 2006
if you haven't seen this...check it out. a bizarre campaign by Brawny (paper towels)...which would be perfect if it wasn't over designed.
Posted by zefrank at 11:32 AM | Comments (6)
the illustrations of:
christoph neimann
and
nicholas blechman
Posted by zefrank at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
spreadin' the luv website
and
the spreadintheluv myspace site
really nice participatory project from paul sahr
Posted by zefrank at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
from Ji Lee who i just met in Cape Town.
Posted by zefrank at 10:41 AM | Comments (2)
February 20, 2006
i've been working on a show about the history of airplane safety, and was pleased to come across a sign in Johannesburg airport - as you enter the airport you pass under a large sign that says: "enter at your own risk". I'd say they win points for simplicity.
edited to add:
here's a pic:
Posted by zefrank at 2:59 AM | Comments (9)
February 18, 2006
i'm concerned in the rise of baby litter. in the starbucks near me people leave strollers in the middle of the aisle. people look at you funny if you ask a baby to move. they look even funnier if you start yelling at the baby. if you took a bicycle into a strabucks you would keep it close to you and be very wary of other people. not so with baby litter.
stop baby littering.
edited to add:
i'm sorry. just not feeling very good today. you can litter the babies if you like. i'll just step around.
Posted by zefrank at 12:37 PM | Comments (3)
February 17, 2006
if you play football, and you think you might hit something at 10 mph...you wear shin pads, elbow pads, a chest pad and a helmet. On a skateboard for 15-20 mph you wear elbow pads, knee pads and a helmet. In a car, anticipating a 60 mph collision, you wear a little belt around your waist and a chest strap. At 300 mph in an airplane you wear a little seat belt. Maybe someday we'll know how to travel fast enough to be naked.
Posted by zefrank at 9:02 AM | Comments (7)
February 16, 2006
finds real estate values of homes all over the country. can anyone tell me if this is accurate? i rent.
edited to add:
just got a note from one reader that said it undervalued his house by about $20,000. my question...maybe someone could answer this in the comments...what is the relationship of market value compared to tax appraisal value?
update:
rob says:"Tax appraisal will always be lower, for example including homestead exception I pay takes on about $75,000. My house appraised at $145,000.With homestead exception your taxes can only go up 3 percent a year. Home values for example went up 13% last year. Also, the tax collectors don’t always re appraise a house every year, some times it takes a while."
okay...so its a lagging indicator at best, at worst its a meaningless visualization of publicly available data...so the challenge is..how do you make it better? do you allow people to speculate on current value? create a virtual real estate market in the vein of alexadex or longbets? you tell me...
update #2:
thanks citydog for the explanation...i guess there are two ways to add value to this site...1) provide more acute data that reflects the market and/or ways of hacking the market or 2) provide some means for people to add their own data (what data i don't know). I prefer #2 because in the long run it would build loyalty to the site...
but for now i'm done worrying about someone elses problem.
Posted by zefrank at 6:54 AM | Comments (4)
two things i have been thinking about:
1 - my former boss/teacher from my days as a neuroscience student told me that he has seen some evidence that memory is inversely correlated to creative thinking. in other words the worse your memory, the greater your creative ability. Anecdotally i've noticed i have more ideas when i'm tired - a time when my memory (especially short term) is pretty much shot.
2 - In the June 2005 issue of Scientific American there was an interesting study that suggested that people who are depressed are less able to deceive themselves. Depressives are BETTER at spotting the truth about how they are perceived by others, and better at understanding what role they actually play in shaping the events of their lives. As the depression goes away, so does this ability. Self deception keeps us sane.
Posted by zefrank at 6:32 AM | Comments (6)
February 15, 2006
after fame...annie has become a bit....err...chunky. she still swears she can do tricks, but i doubt that she has the six foot verticle leap she used to.
yesterday she tried to hide underneath a transparent plastic sandwich bag.
as the brits might say..."bless her"
Posted by zefrank at 9:18 AM | Comments (7)
February 14, 2006
remember... today is "yes, no, maybe day"
from last year:
on valentine's day - zefrank.com
Posted by zefrank at 1:37 PM | Comments (2)
if you have something you love...send it to me...
Posted by zefrank at 12:46 PM | Comments (5)
i don't think stairs actually exist. as soon as you step on one its a floor.
stairs are just small, kind-of-boring floors that you have to stand on to get where you want to go.
Posted by zefrank at 9:02 AM | Comments (4)
February 12, 2006
let me know if you have any problems seeing this.
Posted by zefrank at 5:48 PM | Comments (6)
every time i buy something, i like to think i'm one step closer to completing my collection of everything in the world.
Posted by zefrank at 1:56 PM | Comments (3)
February 10, 2006
it occurs to me:
flowers are the only things you can kill, wrap up in paper and give to someone without it being creepy.
for example: here's some dead puppies. they're red. irish setters. red means i love you.
Posted by zefrank at 9:31 AM | Comments (5)
The Huffington Post Contagious Festival
really nicely done...for those that remember, i worked on the original concept for this along with Jonah Peretti, Cory Archangel, Mike Frumin and a few others this past summer.
glad to see it has new life.
RPG Interlude is my persoanl favorite, although awwwstritch is pretty bad ass.
Posted by zefrank at 9:29 AM | Comments (1)
February 9, 2006
of a new film...just for those of you who read this. release will be on monday.
requires quicktime.
Posted by zefrank at 5:36 PM | Comments (1)
February 3, 2006
Bird's Eye Tourist ...
a site supposedly not affiliated with Microsoft...in any way.
Posted by zefrank at 2:18 PM
How "Christ, What an A**hole!" is the Answer to every New Yorker Magazine Caption Contest link
edited to add:
looks like McSweeneys beat him to it:
Captions for a Cartoon link
Posted by zefrank at 9:06 AM
February 2, 2006
really digging this magazine...
New Scientist - International News, Ideas, Innovation
Posted by zefrank at 12:43 PM | Comments (4)
her name is "moose". she comes from a junkyard. she grew up surrounded by other cats - her sisters and brothers. then they got killed by someone. she knows that she's a cat, and that annie is a cat too. annie never grew up with cats, she was very little when she was adopted. she thinks she's a people. this creates some tension between moose and annie.
Posted by zefrank at 12:12 PM | Comments (4)
February 1, 2006
makeyerowncards is back online
edited to add:
umm...so its not back online...still working on a solution to stave of the hacker bastartds.
Posted by zefrank at 3:25 PM | Comments (0)
when the cute dot com giants start flirting with bullies:
Yahoo and human rights: Shi Tao in prison in China! - Amnesty International
and
No Tibet or Tiananmen on Google's Chinese site - Markets - Times Online
both companies i admire for simplicity and speed - but i'm realizing that I assumed (stupidly) that these virtues implied some sort of an ethical stance (quality = goodness). Scary to see these guys start to get tested...and fail - in my opinion.
Speed and simplicity can be applied to the design of a gallows as easily as it could a search engine i suppose.
Posted by zefrank at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)